Attachment of buttons and the like



Nov. 14, 1944. w. o. HANSEN ET AL ATTACHMENT OF BUTTONS AND TH E LIKE Original Filed Oct. 16, 1939 Patented Nov. 14, 1944 ATTACHMENT OF BUTTONS AND THE LIKE William 0. Hansen and Merlin L. Bowen, Detroit, Mich, asslgnors to Universal Button Fastening & Button Company, Detroit, Micln, a corporation oi Michigan Original application October 16. 1939, Serial No. r 299,586. Divided and this application April 11, 1942, SerialNo. 438,600 7 2 Claims.

This invention relates to the attachment of buttons and other fastening means to garments and the like, andamong other objects aims to provide an improved method and apparatus for attaching buttons and other fastenings to various parts of garments and the like, with the design and insignia on the button in a predetermined position on the garment. The nature of the in- I vention may be readily understood by reference to one illustrative method and apparatus described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

In said drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of apparatus for performing the inventive method; and

Fig. 2 is a plan section taken on the plane 2-2 of Fig. 1. and illustrating diagrammatically the inventive method.

This application is a division of our copending application Serial 299,586, now Patent 2,292,223, granted August 4, 1942, wherein is disclosed a machine for presenting buttons for attachment, with the design or insignia on the button in predetermined relation to the machine. To at-" tach su'ch buttons to a garment in predetermined relation to the garment, the garment is' presented to the machine in a fixed or predetermined relation thereto. Heretofore it has not been 'possible easily and simply to attach to all necessary points on a garment a button or other fastening means with its insignia or design in upright or other predetermined position. 111 general, buttons, etc., have heretofore been" attached by presenting the edge of the garment (whether it be a vertical or horizontal edge) adjacent to which a line of buttons'is to be attached, to the ,machine in a direction transverse to the machine.

For example, in" attaching buttons at the sides of overalls, it has been necessary to turn the garment so that its length lay transversely to the apparatus, with'the result that buttons properly oriented for attachment to the horizontal edge of the garment, such as the top or bib of an overall, would not be attached with their design in upright position at the sides or pockets of the overall. Conversely, buttons oriented for attachment to a vertical, edge of a garment would not be properly oriented for attachment to a horizontal edge.

According to the presentninvention,'buttons/ position, relative to the machine for all attaching operations, In the illustrative method, the vertical axis of the. garment always lies parallel to the longitudinal axis of the machine; and the garment is moved longitudinally in the machine instead of transversely for attachment of but tons along a vertical edge of a garment. There is no rotation of the garment. To perform this method of attachment, the attaching apparatus is designed to allow movement of the garment from one attaching position to the next in a longitudinal direction relative to the apparatus.

As illustrated in the drawing, the upper and lower attaching jaws l0 and ii are supported forwardly of the main frame I! and are vertically spaced to provide a space l3 whose depth (from front to back) is greater than the spacing between adjacent buttons on a garment adapted to have buttons set therein on this particular machine by an amount suflicient to accommodate the operators hand (see Figure 2) and preferably also a certain amount of material bunched between the operator's hand and the frame. The vertical spacing between the upper and lower laws is also made sumcient to allow full freedom of movement of the operator's hand in manipulating the garment. The .terms upper and lower jaws are employed as general terms to designate the vertically spaced structures projecting forwardly from the main frame I2 and between which the garment is inserted to attach a button.

As illustrated and described in our copending application, the button and fastener raceways are arranged so as not to extend laterally from the upper and lower attaching jaws nor to occupy any part of the space l3, thereby eliminating obstructions which might interfere with the operator in manipulating the garment in performance of the aforesaid method. The primary operating mechanism is located to the rear of the space ii in the frame I! and the mechanisms for operating'the upper and lower attaching dies are located respectively above and below the space I! in the jaw housings i4 and i5. There is thus ample space on each side of the jaws and for a. substantial distance to. the rear thereof to permit introduction of the garment into the machine and movement thereof from front to back, as above described. Some types of attaching machines heretofore on the market embody forwardly projecting attaching jaws, but such machines have been used in the conventional manner wherein all edges of the garment were both presented to the machine and moved in a transverse direction, and such machines have never been designed nor capable of performing the method herein disclosed, since the space provided to the rear and laterally of the attaching jaws has not been sufiicient to provide freedom for the operator.

In Fig. 2 is illustrated the attachment of successive buttons I6 along a vertical edge, ll of a garment, with the insignia l8 of the button located in upright position. According to the preferred method the point on the garment to receive the first of a vertical series of buttons is located in registry with attaching position I9 of the machine, the vertical edge of the garment lying parallel to the longitudinal axis 20 of the machine. After attachment of the first button in the series, the operator moves the garment inwardly between the upper and lower jaws, the edge I! being held taut between the operators hands as shown in Fig. 2, until the point for attachment of the next button registers with attaching position IS. The latter position is generally determined by the buttonhole spacing on the opposite edge of the garment or by the skill of the operator, but if desired an adjustable gauge or index 2| spaced from attaching position i9 by the desired button spacing 22 may be employed. The index is preferably adjustable for diflerent button spacings up to a maximum dictated by the depth of'the spac'e l3 and such bunching of material as may take place between the operators hand and the frame of the machine. A common button spacing for overalls is 4 inches. The depth of the space l3 between the jaws must therefore exceed the button spacing by an amount sufiicient to accommodate the operators hand in holding the garment taut and to receive a portion of a bunched garment.

With the present method of attachment, the illustrative machine takes the place of three conventional machines heretofore required for attaching registered buttons to the top edge of a garment and to the right and left side thereof respectively, and it avoids the necessity of using three kinds of registered buttons (in each of the three machines) identical except for the registering means on the button. The present method promotes efliciency in making it possible to attach registered buttons of the same size in a single machine and by eliminating axial rotation of the garment during the attaching operation.

Obviously, the invention is not limited to the details of the illustrated apparatus since these may be variously modified. Moreover, it is not indispensable that all features of the invention be used conjointly, since various features may be used to advantage in different combinations and sub-combinations.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. The method of attaching registered buttons to a garment which comprises presenting in an attaching position successive buttons with the insignia thereon oriented to a predetermined position for attachment to the garment, presenting the garment to attaching position to receive a plurality of buttons parallel to and a plurality of buttons at right angles to the vertical axis of the garment'and adjacent the edges thereof and from start to finish of the'attaching operations maintaining a fixed direction to the vertical axis of the garment so that during the attachment of successive buttons at all points on the garment the positions of the said axis of the garment are parallel to each other, whereby the insignia on the buttons when attached adjacent the edges of the garment all have the same orientation on the garment whether the said edges of the garment are parallel to or at right angles to said axis.

2. The method of attaching registered buttons to a garment which comprises locating in an attaching position a succession of buttons with the insignia thereon oriented to a predetermined position, attaching the succession of buttons to the garment in lines along edges which are both parallel to and at right angles to the vertical axis of the garment, and from start to finish of the attaching operations maintaining a fixed direction to the vertical axis of the garment so that during the attachment of successive buttons at all points on the garment the positions of the said axis of the garment are parallel to each other, whereby the insignia on the buttons when attached to the garment all have the same orientation.

WILLIAM O. HANSEN. MERLIN L. BOWEN. 

